[The welcome diner is something he's heard people talk about on the network and has passed by, occasionally. He's considered lending a hand, too, but up to now he's found himself too uncomfortable with the notion of settling into this city enough to reach out to newcomers. It had taken him months and a set of truly unfortunate circumstances even to live in one of the apartments rather than the streets, after all.
So when Aki calls out to someone to ask after his friends, it just so happens to be the case that Shinjiro had been walking past the diner, and ... despite himself, he freezes. The voice or the description of either individual might have been something he could write off as a coincidence, but all three at once? There was no way. And when Shinjiro chances a look in the diner...ah. There he is.
He only has precious moments before Aki turns his way and meets eyes with him, and suddenly his mind's a blank. He has nothing to say for himself, really, no apologies to offer for his choices. He never actually expected to have to confront anyone left behind after his death, and even having gone through it once with Amada, he feels no better prepared to handle it with Aki. Maybe less prepared, even. His past with Amada is complicated and mutually awkward, a distance between them neither knows how to cross, each reticent to disturb the thin ice they rest on.
Aki, though ... Aki doesn't hesitate. He'll barrel onward, charging forward through any distance Shinjiro tries to hold, tearing down any and all carefully constructed barriers in his path, and there will be nowhere to run anymore. He's not sure he's ready for that, honestly.
(He's going to hurt him again, just by being here, on time he knows is borrowed but Aki could never accept)
Shinjiro steels himself, and then steps inside, taking a page out of his old friend's book and jumping right in to answer his question with no preamble:]
diner time
So when Aki calls out to someone to ask after his friends, it just so happens to be the case that Shinjiro had been walking past the diner, and ... despite himself, he freezes. The voice or the description of either individual might have been something he could write off as a coincidence, but all three at once? There was no way. And when Shinjiro chances a look in the diner...ah. There he is.
He only has precious moments before Aki turns his way and meets eyes with him, and suddenly his mind's a blank. He has nothing to say for himself, really, no apologies to offer for his choices. He never actually expected to have to confront anyone left behind after his death, and even having gone through it once with Amada, he feels no better prepared to handle it with Aki. Maybe less prepared, even. His past with Amada is complicated and mutually awkward, a distance between them neither knows how to cross, each reticent to disturb the thin ice they rest on.
Aki, though ... Aki doesn't hesitate. He'll barrel onward, charging forward through any distance Shinjiro tries to hold, tearing down any and all carefully constructed barriers in his path, and there will be nowhere to run anymore. He's not sure he's ready for that, honestly.
(He's going to hurt him again, just by being here, on time he knows is borrowed but Aki could never accept)
Shinjiro steels himself, and then steps inside, taking a page out of his old friend's book and jumping right in to answer his question with no preamble:]
They ain't here. S'just you, me, and Amada.